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19 Things That All High School Students Should Be Told Before They Go To College

By Michael Snyder, on May 16th, 2012

Don’t you wish that someone had told you the truth before you went to college? Don’t you wish that someone had told you that college has become a giant money making scam that is designed to drain as much money out of students and parents as possible? Yes, college can be a profitable endeavor if you pick your field of study wisely, if you can get someone else to pay for at least some of it and if you can actually get a good job in that field when you graduate. But most high school students are never told to weigh the pros and the cons before they run off to college. The typical high school student is simply told to get into the “best school” that he or she can and to take out whatever loans are “necessary” to pay for that education. Our high school students are assured that those student loans will be paid back easily once they get “good jobs” following graduation. But the truth is that there are some other things that high school students should be told before they go off to college as well. They should be told that student loan debt can cripple them financially for decades. They should be told that the quality of education at most U.S. colleges and universities is a total joke. They should be told that most college graduates do not get a “good job” once they graduate these days. They should be told that after they receive their diplomas they are likely to end up flat broke, waiting tables and living with their parents.

If we would just be honest with our high school students ahead of time, it would save many of them a whole lot of pain later.

Higher education is not necessarily a bad thing. But these days when it comes to higher education the goal should be to get as much for your money as you possibly can. You don’t want to end up spending four years of your life and paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for a degree in “art history” or “political science”.

If you are going to get a college degree, choose a field that will actually advance your career and try to spend as little as you can. Unless you have wealthy parents who can pay for it all, the goal should be to make as big of a profit on your education as possible.

The following are 19 things that all high school students should be told before they go to college….

#1 A college education has become insanely expensive. Over the past 30 years, the cost of college tuition in the United States has tripled. One father down in Texas says that he will spend a total of about 1.5 million dollars on college expenses for his five daughters before it is all said and done.

#2 As costs have risen, so has student borrowing. Sadly, U.S. college students are now borrowing about twice as much money as they did a decade ago after adjusting for inflation.

#3 Unless you have a wealthy parent, there are some schools that should be avoided like the plague. In the United States today, there are dozens of schools where tuition, room and board total more than $50,000 a year, and only a handful of those schools provide a top notch education.

#4 Our parents and our grandparents paid far less for their college educations than we do today. Back in 1952, a full year of tuition at Harvard was only $600. Today, it is over $35,000.

#5 The college textbook industry has become a gigantic money making scam. It is now common for many college textbooks to be priced well above $100, and overall the cost of college textbooks has tripled over the past decade.

#6 At the end of your education, your diploma will likely come with a debt burden which will hang around your neck for many years to come. In 2010, the average student loan debt burden at graduation was $25,250.

#7 Student loan debt is one of the greatest debt bubbles the U.S. has ever seen. In fact, student loan debt in America has grown by 511 percent since 1999.

#8 Americans now owe more on their student loans than they do on their credit cards. In fact, the total amount of student loan debt in the United States recently surpassed the one trillion dollar mark.

#9 People that pursue advanced degrees can pile up absolutely enormous amounts of student loan debt. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, approximately 167,000 Americans currently have more than $200,000 of student loan debt.

#10 The student loan default rate in the U.S. is rising to unprecedented heights. In fact, the student loan default rate has nearly doubled since 2005.

#11 All over America, websites are connecting young college students desperate for college cash with “sugar daddies” that are willing to make a “contribution” to college education in exchange for some “companionship”. The following is from a Huffington Post article about this disturbing trend….

On a Sunday morning in late May, Taylor left her Harlem apartment and boarded a train for Greenwich, Conn. She planned on spending the day with a man she had met online, but not in person.

Taylor, a 22-year-old student at Hunter College, had confided in her roommate about the trip and they agreed to swap text messages during the day to make sure she was safe.

Once in Greenwich, a man who appeared significantly older than his advertised age of 42 greeted Taylor at the train station and then drove her to the largest house she had ever seen. He changed into his swimming trunks, she put on a skimpy bathing suit, and then, by the side of his pool, she rubbed sunscreen into the folds of his sagging back — bracing herself to endure an afternoon of sex with someone she suspected was actually about 30 years her senior.

#12 Once you start college, there is a very good chance that you will not finish. Federal statistics reveal that only 36 percent of the full-time students who began college in 2001 received a bachelor’s degree within four years.

#13 At most U.S. colleges and universities, the quality of the education that you will receive is rather poor. Just check out some numbers about the quality of college education in the United States from an article that appeared in USA Today….

-“After two years in college, 45% of students showed no significant gains in learning; after four years, 36% showed little change.”

-“Students also spent 50% less time studying compared with students a few decades ago”

-“35% of students report spending five or fewer hours per week studying alone.”

-“50% said they never took a class in a typical semester where they wrote more than 20 pages”

-“32% never took a course in a typical semester where they read more than 40 pages per week.”

#14 The good news is that you will have more free time in college than you have ever had before. One survey found that U.S. college students spend 24% of their time sleeping, 51% of their time socializing and 7% of their time studying.

#15 You are probably not going to be able to find a good job when you graduate. Last year, a staggering 53 percent of all U.S. college graduates under the age of 25 were either unemployed or underemployed.

#16 After you leave college, you are much more likely to get a crappy job than you are to get a good paying professional job. The following is an excerpt from a recent CNBC article….

In the last year, they were more likely to be employed as waiters, waitresses, bartenders and food-service helpers than as engineers, physicists, chemists and mathematicians combined (100,000 versus 90,000). There were more working in office-related jobs such as receptionist or payroll clerk than in all computer professional jobs (163,000 versus 100,000). More also were employed as cashiers, retail clerks and customer representatives than engineers (125,000 versus 80,000).

#17 If you think that you will be able to “beat the odds” and land the job of your dreams once you graduate from college, perhaps you should consider these numbers….

-In the United States today, approximately 365,000 cashiers have college degrees.

-In the United States today, there are more than 100,000 janitors that have college degrees.

#18 College does a very poor job of preparing people for the “real world”. In fact, one poll found that 70% of all college graduates wish that they had spent more time preparing for the “real world” while they were still in school.

#19 Once you graduate from college, there is a really good chance that you will be moving back home with Mom and Dad. One recent poll discovered that 29 percent of all Americans in the 25 to 34 year old age bracket are still living with their parents.

So what do you think about the state of college education in America? Please feel free to post your thoughts below….

I went to college, and all I got was this “I love student loan debt” T-shirt.

Michael

Great one Mondo. :)

Michael

mondobeyondo

“#7 Student loan debt is one of the greatest debt bubbles the U.S. has ever seen. In fact, student loan debt in America has grown by 511 percent since 1999.”

That is scary. I know, I know. A gallon of milk cost 3 cents in 1945, etc… I get it.
But still… it’s not fair. I fear for our kids, for they will have no mercy on our generation.

DaytoDay

“In fact, one poll found that 70% of all college graduates wish that they had spent more time preparing for the “real world” while they were still in school.”

Instead of what? Partying… I mean, what do you expect? I have 3 cousins who went to college and none of them completed a 4yr degree, with one being 1 semester shy of a bachelors… what do you say to that? One has been working for CSX for 4yrs and recently went back to Atlanta to receive more training, and the other one, is looking for work at Marathon Oil, because they are hiring, and the last, is back living with his mom jobless.

So, you never know… Honestly, I think most these “adults” don’t take college seriously… Everyday my FB page is flooded with the “can’t wait to party” and “Keg & Eggs” Sadly, that’s the real college… Will there be some kids who beat the odds and make something of themselves? Of course… But the sad fact, is that the majority are there for little more than a day care center… Ask the average college student what their major is or what they want to be, and they’ll say, “They have no idea what to tell you, my parents told me to go”…

KYTim89

The education bubble is the new financial/real estate bubble. Students that take out loans in the hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay for college are essentially taking out a loan for $150,000 house without purchasing an actual house. It seems like the right thing to do, but bailing out the students only proves that irresponsible behavior will be upheld, which in turn creates even more risky behavior.

The best thing for potential college students graduating from high school would be to learn a trade such as carpentry, welding or wood lathing and then allow the education bubble to burst. The bursting of the education, much like any other bubble, is inevitable. When the bubble does burst, expect colleges to lay off no less that seventy percent of their students and faculty. The higher education system would then correct itself by eliminating teacher tenure, unnecessary construction projects, which include athletics and dormitories, and excessive teacher salaries and redundant classes.

Adapting our education system to a free market would be the best solution. Much in the same way that college kids can buy Phones, computers and LCD TVs is to not allow the Federal government to subsidize the purchasing of college tuition. This is why technology gets cheaper with time, because the government does not buy these things for the consumer. If I can buy a LCD TV today for $200, and it cost $1500 five years ago, then why can’t I do the same for college courses and tuition?

Here the reasons why college tutition costs are going up:

Government subsidies such as Pell grants, FAFSA, and other forms of government aid to students.

Increased demand from students. The rules of supply and demand dictate that as the demand for a service or product grows and the amount of said product or service remains the same, or declines, then the price of the service/good will go up. By channelling all our high school graduates, and older generations, into the college system it has had the effect of raising the cost tutition.

Athletics and coaches salaries. National leauges such as the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL are multi-billion dollars industries. The multi-billion dollar aspect of those programs have trickled down into the college NCAA. Operating sports arenas and giving coaches $15,000,000 or more per season will eventually add up in the long run.

Unnecessary construction projects. Withthe real estate system in shamble does it make sense to keep building dormatories for college? All thse facilties do is increase the operating costs of the school, which in turn adds to the overall cost of attending said school. With all the vacant houses on the market, if students need a place to sleep then they should rent out these structures instead.

KYTim89

One thing that the author of this blog, Michael, should report on is the fact that national sports leauges, which are essentially private businesses, are recieving large amounts of public subsidies at the taxpayers expense.

With so many city and state governments on the verge of bankruptcy, or already bankrupt, does it make sense to give private businessess large sums of money?

Lars Olfen

You forgot the fact the dollar is worth 83% less than it was in the early 1980’s.

Kevin

Get educated hands to make a living. That may or may not require college; Physicians and Automobile Mechanics are examples from different ends of the spectrum. If your dream job is such that you never have to leave your desk your office will end up in India. If your job can be outsourced it will be.

Those that hath a trade hath an estate providing there is a demand for that trade.

Colin

I believe firmly that the federal and state governments are dismantling the education system in this country. Just about every day, school districts are laying off teachers or shutting down schools. (http://dailyjobcuts.com/) Why do I think they doing this? I believe that some politicians want to privatize and corporatize our educational system. I believe that some politicians want to destroy the teachers’ union because they hate unions and want to deny other politicians this source of funding. I agree with George Carlin’s assertion that the corporations want a population that is smart enough to do the minimum wage jobs. This population will lack the critical thinking skills to question the status quo.

This dismantling of our education system is, I believe, resulting in students who are unsuited for college. The college system has to bring these students up to speed. Sadly, colleges are becoming increasingly corporatized as well as they have to compete with the profit-for-education colleges and as they scramble to replace money that was coming from the states. In the past decade, state funding for colleges has decreased by 25%. The students are bearing the cost of this decrease, and there are indications that the states may cut more of their education funding in the future the longer this depression continues.

Like most in this country, I think that our nation is going backwards on college. In the 19th century, college was affordable for the wealthy and no else. This changed in the early 20th century, and, with the passage of the GI Bill after the end of World War II, college became affordable for everyone and was seen as one of the prerequisites for the middle class. I think that in the future that college will again become affordable for those with money to spare and no else. I don’t know what the vast majority of the population will do in terms of higher education, and I don’t think our nation does either.

(Michael, the link for #5 doesn’t work. The video was pulled down due to copyright violations.)

Jef

Correct, Thanks for the link

Gary2

What really sucks is that the value of the college education has eroded because so many more people have a degree. My degree sure and hell is not helping me now. Fortunately I worked though college and only had 5000 in loans. (graduated mid to late 80’S)

mark

Gary2, what is your degree in? Did you choose poorly? At least you are working, that is better than 25% plus that can’t even get a job. So do you still want four more years? Are you better off now than when Obama took over?

Gary2

degree in Business management and 1/2 of a degree in accounting. I am pretty much the same since Obama took over. I am WAY worse off after 8 years of Bush/republicans. The choice is clear. We need as third party that represents the average people and not the rich.

I would rather stay the same then loose but staying the same is sort of loosing, just more slowly.

ME

Figures. Another *************** manager.

Golden Child

How is being a drunk slacker for four plus years of your young adult life constructive at all? The only people that truly benefit from college are the rich and well-connected. Kids have few options today. Not everyone can be an engineer, scientist or doctor. Those people are above average. The average American is screwed noways; especially average young Americans. Average illegal immigrants are a vital force in American employment unfortunately. Nobody real gets their hands dirty and works anymore but illegal immigrants and poor people grinding for $10 an hour where I live in the DC Area.

dod

Education was corrupted by the Rockefellers a century ago. It all comes down to control. The oligarchs simply want those docile sheeple-slaves by supplying them (and parents) with ludicrous debt. High schools get their reputation by showing how many “kids they sent to college” and hence send their own students into oblivion. False dreams, high hopes. All indoctrination. It will be the next bubble.

Foreigner

Good article. Just a quick comment, which most Americans won’t like but that is a fact.
As a foreigner living in Asia, I sometime meet Americans. Most are naive and not that intelligent. Looks like you education system is falling appart. As a country you produce the best scientists, lawyers, etc. through your top Ivy schools.
But the average American education, wow, what a disaster!

mark

There are some good colleges at a fair price. My daughter went to BYU Idaho. She earned a four year degree in accounting. The cost including room and board was about $10,000 a year. She had a job when she got out school in her major. If a student keeps their grades up tuition is discounted by 50%. If you keep a 4.0 it is free. The LDS Church runs a good school at a fair price.

MichaeltheEnglishman

Frankly, an education isn’t worth getting into debt for. Even if it were free of charge it’s a waste of time unless and until it proves to be an investment with payback, or if you’re rich enough to not have to work for a living.

Cut your losses and get a job waiting tables while you live with your parents.

chris

This should be in flyer format and tossed around at every high school in America…..

Kelby

No way am I supporting this college riches cartel, EVER. i’ll stay out and try to be a self-employed author or start my own website that’ll make me something. I’ll work for myself, thank you.

Ameen

Like!

1% fan

Join the military, use your copious free time to study equilavency tests, save like a miser and get out to do a couple years in college studying something practical. Plus the military discipline will do your fat lazy butt some goodonce you realize mommy isn’t around to pick up after you.

http://thetruthfulone.com The Truthful One

Yeah and when you join the military you can get free immunizations that are full of toxic metals.

And you can get exposed to depleted uranium as you shoot weapons in other countries.

And you can provide security in Afghanistan, as the elite make bank on the poppy seeds and lithium deposits.

And if you survive, then you can use your GI bill to get a worthless college education.

I respect all people who serve in our military, but let’s be honest about the dangers they are exposed to, from their own leaders.

Kelby

To you, 1% fan (and it sounds like you really are one), Is it really that deplorable to make your own money? Is it really lazy that self-motivated, self-educated people work for themselves on their own time and schedule and benefits; rather than work as a small worker in a large company, depending on the fat cat boss to keep you there no matter what; and to do whatever that company says so they can make all the money and give you a pittance of it, under the penalty of job loss and possibly homelessness???

That is the exact same mentality of feudal Europe, sir, and i dont condone it.

Piglet

Even when I was in college over 30 years ago, most of those living in the dorm with me spent their time partying and getting high. When I wasn’t in class I was studying and doing homework, but that wasn’t the case with so many others. I had spent a tour in the Army and knew something about applying myself and not giving up, no matter how hard it got. Others just lit up a joint or fired up their bongs ’cause Mommy and Daddy were paying for it. That had gone on long before I arrived on campus and I’m sure it’s still going on today. In fact, there were a number of people in the dorms who were making money by selling dope to other students – and this was at a top-ranked university in one of highest-income areas of the entire country.

Want to know what college kids are doing for money these days? Google “College Rules” and you’ll find out.

http://www.EnsoTheory.com Enzo

Michael, don’t forget about the “other” side of the textbook scams. Aside from the books being useless (you can literally see all the book has to offer in the chapter summaries, meaning many books can be read in about an hour or so), the texbook “buyback” programs are a super scam! I (and I’m not the only one) rented my useless book for $25 so I got a good deal. However, most students paid the school bookstore the $156 for the book (new), and guess how much the school bought it back for? 10 CENTS! Yes that is TEN (10) CENTS! A DIME! And then they sold that used book next semester for $126! Not only that, but now there is a new college scam going on to stop students from saving money and avoiding the textbook “stealback”: The schools are now colluding with publishers to have University/College custom book editions made for their schools. Obviously, this means we can’t buy or rent books from elsewhere. When will people wake to this scam? College gives them the illusion that they are learning, when most of them aren’t learning a darn thing!

Michael

10 cents?

That is absolutely crazy.

Michael

Pete

That’s why you should open a book store that buys used books right beside the university. lol

JasonD

I used to buy the book, get the syllabus so I’d know the pages I’d have to study, then photocopy the needed pages and bind them, then take the things back

Gary2

you are 100% correct on the text book scam. My son had a similar experience as Enzo did. This is crap. And people wonder why sites like torrent/TPB are so popular.

mondobeyondo

I learned more from the Cliff Notes for “Hamlet” than from the actual course itself. That, and actually reading the play. “You mean I paid $50 for this book??” And that was back in 1991.

Erik

College tuition has increased over the years. It appears to me the reason for the tuition hikes is that the college board of trustees and presidents want higher salaries while many students across the United States have to pay more for tuition increases. The United States is not the only country experiencing the same problem. Europe is also facing a similar (same) crises as well when it comes to tuition rate hikes. I just say it has been way out of control for many years and they have to get their spending under control and lower the tuition rates.

ME

They look like country clubs.

Pete

While I wholly agree with the general message and image being portrayed by this article, I find a number of details a misrepresentation due to of the change in how education works.

It stated that only 36% graduate in a 4 year program. This doesn’t mean 64% did not graduate, it simply means it took them longer OR did not graduate. In many professional fields, many universities suggest a professional year experience / internship. This allows them to have real world work experience prior to graduating. This delays graduation and makes it a 5 year program but it’s much more fruitful and worthwhile than 4 year program. It’s also possible to switch back and forth between part time due to what ever reason. Doing so will inevitably delay your graduation once again. In my faculty, less than about 5% graduated in a 4 years and this was a GOOD thing because they all had a chance to have a year of internship.

Stats like 32% never taking a course where they read more than 40 page is meaningless. There are more and more professional fields. We’re not bunch of english majors anymore. Where would you find a mathematician just “reading” 40 pages a week? Calculus is not a novel.

On the flip side…

The unemployment issue with college grads are a LOT worse than written here. It’s true that lot of college grads cannot get professional jobs. However, the worst part is not that they can’t get a job, but that there ARE professional jobs out there BUT they are STILL unable to get a professional job. Foreign professional job rates are growing rapidly. This is because there is a LACK of able professional workers available in the USA. Yes, a lack of, not a bounty. No one wants to hire bunch of idiots who barely got their hands on a degree. If the interviewee crumbles on the first question, they’re not going to get hired. The education in the USA is worsening and the international education is getting better. The fact that america’s education is so horrible that companies need to hire foreign worker is the worst part!

El Pollo de Oro

“Hey kiddies, keep spending that money in college. Get that degree as an MBA. You too can have a job at Wal-Mart. You too can become a cashier or a clerk.”—Gerald Celente

“Los Estados Unidos has become a banana republic.”—Gerald Celente

When I was growing up in the 1960s and 1970s (before it became a Third World hellhole called The Banana Republic of America), there were different paths to financial success. Trade school served a lot of blue-collar workers well, and it was unheard of for someone with a college degree to be waiting tables. But times have changed for the worse, and now, you have unemployed blue-collar workers competing with unemployed college graduates for dead-end crap jobs at the dollar store. Inevitably, some clueless individuals will blame the victims; “well, if you hadn’t gotten a worthless degree, you would have a good job. Why, I bet you studied fine arts. What? You have an MBA? But I just assumed…..” Yeah, leave it to Boobus America, as the late Libertarian talk show host Irv Homer used to say, to blame the victims. The reality is that the former USA has cut its own throat thanks to the poison of globalism.

“If you’ve studied Rome, you know that wealthy nations do collapse into Third World squalor when they allow their currency to be debased.”—Alex Jones

“We need to bring manufacturing back to this country. We need to break up big agriculture and big pharma. We need to break up the big chains that have put us into chains.”—Gerald Celente

“Voting for the lesser of two evils is voting for your own enslavement.”—Gerald Celente

“If there is war against Iran, it is going to be the beginning of World War III—and we will go into a depression, the likes of which people have never seen. This will reverberate worldwide.”—Gerald Celente

“American exceptionalism? Exceptional at what? Waging wars against innocent people for fake reasons? Exceptional at what? Being addicted to pharmaceutical drugs that have people’s minds wasted? Exceptional at what? Eating more junk food and becoming the most obese nation on Earth?”—Gerald Celente

“It is becoming increasingly impossible in America to get a good job without being connected to the system that serves the elites.”—Paul Craig Roberts

“Don’t tell me to leave—you leave. If Obama, if Clinton, if Mittens Romney, if Rick Santorum, if Neutered Gingrich, if Herman ‘999 666’ Cain, if Michelle Bachmann, if Sarah Palin, if Harry Reid—if any of these people want to tell me to leave because I don’t believe their BS, come over and we can talk. You want to go man-to-man with me? We could go at it. Don’t send one of your flunkies.”—Gerald Celente

And what happens when these underemployed construction workers and underemployed college graduates get sick of working 70 hours a week and still can’t keep up with their bills? That’s when violent crime really goes through the roof. Oh, the BRA is very violent now, but the crime problem is going to get much, much worse as the BRA continues to slide deeper and deeper into the abyss. Desperate people do desperate things. They rob at gunpoint, they steal, they sell drugs, they carry out violent home invasions, they kidnap for ransom. They collect the dreaded Desperate People Doing Desperate Things Tax (DPDDTT).

Welcome to life in a violent, rotting, decaying, collapsing Third World banana republic. Welcome to The Banana Republic of America. Welcome to hell.

ME

Everybody seems to want to be some sort of manager or bang keys on a keyboard. Also, i see a lot of college grads with worse spelling and grammer than my nine year old.

Somebody still has to nail on the shingles, weld the pipe, etc.

james

and people wonder why i dropped out…

mondobeyondo

Bill Gates dropped out of college. He became a total failure…

Katherine Z

Hundreds of thousands of people dropped out of college. They became janitors or work at MacDonald. Or at least not millionaires.

Piglet

Although it was nice to get a college degree, even at the time I didn’t feel like I had obtained any practical knowledge on how to really do much of anything, and I had gotten a business degree. I had had to waste a lot of time and money on useless non-core courses and electives that allowed the university to keep me there longer and charge me more to take classes I didn’t want in such topics as art or music appreciation, and I would have rather had something more practical.

My father had a degree as well but he also could repair many things in the family car, he did plumbing in the house, he knew enough woodworking and other skills to modify existing rooms and build new ones, etc. There seemed to be nothing he couldn’t do, and he didn’t learn it in a university.

In the years following graduation, it was rare to meet anyone who actually worked in a field related to one’s course of study. It was kind of a joke that one could spend so many years in college with a focus on one particular field but never actually work in it later – and this was during much more prosperous times.

One thing every college degree program should include in the freshman year is a course in balancing a checkbook, handling credit cards, and understanding how the tens of thousands of dollars of school debt accumulated now will last for so many years in the future, if not indefinitely, and with interest added to the debt, what the total bill will really be. In these areas, most students are like lambs being led to the slaughter. Of course, if schools offered such a course, the cat would really be out of the bag and students might leave college before they racked up so much debt, and that would make the colleges and money lenders very happy.

http://prepareprotectandpray.com College Conspiracy

Great article Michael! Colleges enslave people with debt, only to teach them how to be employees, not entrepreneurs.

Here’s a video from the National Inflation Association that documents the College Conspiracy, and how it’s the largest scam in U.S. history.

Since kids are so video-oriented, it’s a great way to help them understand why a 4-year college may not be their best plan.

I went to two different community college in the past two years. The first school I sent myself to was Essex county college, there I thought it would be easy to get my ore requisite classes complete. How easy was it? It wasn’t, how about going to school and your professors not showing up at all, no emails, text alerts or phone calls. That was over 4000 down the toilet and I never finished the semester. The second school I went to was another cmunity college, Atlantic cape community college. This time I figured I’d take a student loan so I didn’t flush my own money down the drain, well not right away and all in lump sum. This time my classes were the same and all I had to do was get my books. All of my books together cost around 800 order for four classes. Something that should have turned out so easy turned out to be frustrating and confusing.when I went to get my book check it kept getting pushed back about a couple of weeks to a month. By the Ed of the semester I’ve dropped all my classes and never got my books, surprisingly enough I finished off the semester and now stuck with 2000 in loan money and 700 for the last semester of my first school. The worst part is that I didn’t learn anything. Everything I was supposed to learn I already knew so now I’m back to square one, paying cash, up front at a trade school for auto mechanics and I’ve learned more there two days a week than I did as a everyday student at a community college that with classes I’ve been taking since middle school. Sometimes I wonder how were a world power. Consider college a scam at this point.

Professor Gary

A very obvious culprit in this national educational scam is the education industry. On-line degrees and local career schools need to be exposed for the horrible alternatives to a real education that they truly are. On this website and in the sidebar to this very article because of the area where I live is a banner ad to a local career college. This was placed automatically because of my ISP and the topic of the article (education).

However, this for-profit career college is a terrible place to get the skills for a job. Over priced tuition and watered down course content. It is important for the adminsitration to make the class work easy enough so that the students don’t get discouraged and quit early. Then that would interrupt the cash flow from Pell grants and federal guaranteed student loans to the school. There is a good quality community college a mile away which costs 80% less!! Why not go there? Because it is more academically rigourous relatively speaking, that’s why.

How do I know this? I taught there two semesters as an adjunct faculty. We should never have taken those students’ money. They did not get an education that was worth a dime and I feel bad about it to this day.

This career school advertised on this web site is a for profit school that is owned secretly by Saudi Arabian businessmen as an investment. They own a portfolio of career schools in the US. This does not appear in any of the catalogs or materials handed out by the admissions department. The dean told me about who really profits the most from this school. The students get the debt, the bank gets the interest on the loans and international investors get a handsome return on their capital. Caveat emptor (Let the Buyer Beware)

mistel

First, a college degree opens up many doors. Second, they can never take your degree away from you. If you are motivated, go for it. If you are an apathetic pot smoker, don’t waste your parents’ money.

Guido

Ford once stated, “History is more or less bunk.” I think education is much the same. I’ve known folks who were un-degreed, yet wise and knowledgeable beyond ANY degreed twit I ever met. Your average career NCO could probably give you a lot better wisdom than your average ivory tower-dweller. I value knowledge, but I think education is a racket. You can learn outside a classroom. You can do well in life without a sheepskin, too. My buddy’s a welder. No liberal arts degree, but he can make great money as a welder. He’s no fool, either. On the other hand, I’ve known educated people who were as stupid as anything you could imagine. I’ll never forget the nurse I met who told me, “I don’t read things if I don’t have to…” These days, your best bet is probably to go to a trade school, learn how to do something useful, and get 50 an hour for knowing how to fix a toilet valve or install a light switch.

Guido

I got a buddy from Alabama who said the Toyota plant down there is so hurting for robotics and machinery experts so bad, they’re hiring kids right out of the robotics and machinery courses at the local community college before they even graduate. Just studying the subject is a resume enhancer. I think in this day and age, you’ll find knowing how to do physical things is worth more than all the underwater basket weaving and feminist literature classes in the world.

mondobeyondo

There are other options. Go to a two-year community college. You can learn plenty there, and it’s much cheaper than a 4-year university (although many “professional” majors require a 4-year degree, so you’ll have to transfer).

Or you can go to a trade school. There’s always a need for air conditioning technicians, auto mechanics and plumbers. And you won’t believe the wages those jobs offer!

James

I attended and graduated from a 2-year college with 2 associates degrees, one in Fish and Wildlife Mgmt. and the other in Geology. Now, I tried to transfer to a 4-year college in the same state, and they would only accept 25% – 30% of my credits. I took some of the same courses over again, and some of the courses were for the same number of credit hours, and a few used the exact same textbooks for the courses that I took at the 2-year college. I took 2 courses where I had to learn about insects that attack forest trees. I was amazed that the 4-year course didn’t teach the students how to identify the insects that attacked trees. Instead, the instructor went off tangent on stuff that he was interested in, and that he was conducting research on. He did not teach the course that was advertised in the school bulletin. I was glad I took the course at the 2-year college, or I wouldn’t be able to tell an Ant from a Praying Mantis. I feel that 4-year colleges are oversold for jobs that don’t need a Bachelors Degree. Forestry sure isn’t one of them.

jesusknight

My husband is a teacher at a local trade school where a lot of the students are criminals convicted of theft and assault, and sent on government tuition, and they would not even be able to use the electrician education they get because of their records. But the state makes them take these ‘students’ instead of getting actual students who like and need it to get the classes..

http://byehighschool.org/ Nikki R

Young adults NEED this kind of cut-and-dry information. I was one of the kids who was told that college was pretty much the only way to go. Today, I’m a college dropout who wishes she never even attended college (thank you, Sallie Mae).

I’ve done quite well for myself to be only 23 years old. In fact, most of my college classmates who continued on to graduation are either unemployed or in a job making less than I do.

It’s one of the reasons I started ByeHighSchool.org. I don’t want anyone to think that college is the only path to success in life. I’ll definitely share this with my social media followers.

Thanks for sharing!

Guest

so you’re saying a college degree is bad???

Chris C

So you’re saying that getting a college degree is a bad thing???

peb78

School is great, university even greater. The problem reside in the lack of definition of two important words: Teamwork and cheating. Teamwork is not used to help each other in a team, but merely to divide one task. The employers aren’t hiring a school team, so anyone has a clear picture of the overall necessary knowledge. About cheating, it is seen as only copying. But it is about not doing the necessary efforts pointed by a given task. People want to know, but the real important ability is to find, which the university is giving perfectly. And if no one provides these definitions, it is very difficult for a student to convince the other students that their method is wrong. It is simply forbidden to cheat, and we must do teamwork.